In PSy's defense, I think he'd be one of the first people to agree that his music lacks substance and sacrifices quality for mass appeal. He's said as much in interviews.

He goes for a compromise approach- music that is pretty generic, but his lyrics can be more outrageous and he makes sure to give people a good performance and videos that have a bit more to them.

His humor has enough self-effacing in it that you get the sense that he's mocking himself and pop music too in his video.

The dude has endured album bannings and being pilloried in the media for some of his stuff. I think he "gets it" when it comes to talk of the scuzz of the Kpop scene. He's from the tail-end of the first big KPop wave of SeoTaiji-HOT where they actually tried to do things like write their own songs, push deeper messages, challenge social norms, emphasize rock or other genres, and generally got minimal support from the music industry/government and tepid receptions from the broad base of fans. There has to be some lingering resentment.

In PSy's defense, I think he'd be one of the first people to agree that his music lacks substance and sacrifices quality for mass appeal. He's said as much in interviews.

He goes for a compromise approach- music that is pretty generic, but his lyrics can be more outrageous and he makes sure to give people a good performance and videos that have a bit more to them.

His humor has enough self-effacing in it that you get the sense that he's mocking himself and pop music too in his video.

The dude has endured album bannings and being pilloried in the media for some of his stuff. I think he "gets it" when it comes to talk of the scuzz of the Kpop scene. He's from the tail-end of the first big KPop wave of SeoTaiji-HOT where they actually tried to do things like write their own songs, push deeper messages, challenge social norms, emphasize rock or other genres, and generally got minimal support from the music industry/government and tepid receptions from the broad base of fans. There has to be some lingering resentment.

In a field that is basically driven by any and all forms of prostitution, where people are willing to do and say whatever it takes to become rich and famous...Psy seems to fit right in.

In PSy's defense, I think he'd be one of the first people to agree that his music lacks substance and sacrifices quality for mass appeal. He's said as much in interviews.

He goes for a compromise approach- music that is pretty generic, but his lyrics can be more outrageous and he makes sure to give people a good performance and videos that have a bit more to them.

His humor has enough self-effacing in it that you get the sense that he's mocking himself and pop music too in his video.

The dude has endured album bannings and being pilloried in the media for some of his stuff. I think he "gets it" when it comes to talk of the scuzz of the Kpop scene. He's from the tail-end of the first big KPop wave of SeoTaiji-HOT where they actually tried to do things like write their own songs, push deeper messages, challenge social norms, emphasize rock or other genres, and generally got minimal support from the music industry/government and tepid receptions from the broad base of fans. There has to be some lingering resentment.

In a field that is basically driven by any and all forms of prostitution, where people are willing to do and say whatever it takes to become rich and famous...Psy seems to fit right in.

In PSy's defense, I think he'd be one of the first people to agree that his music lacks substance and sacrifices quality for mass appeal. He's said as much in interviews.

He goes for a compromise approach- music that is pretty generic, but his lyrics can be more outrageous and he makes sure to give people a good performance and videos that have a bit more to them.

His humor has enough self-effacing in it that you get the sense that he's mocking himself and pop music too in his video.

The dude has endured album bannings and being pilloried in the media for some of his stuff. I think he "gets it" when it comes to talk of the scuzz of the Kpop scene. He's from the tail-end of the first big KPop wave of SeoTaiji-HOT where they actually tried to do things like write their own songs, push deeper messages, challenge social norms, emphasize rock or other genres, and generally got minimal support from the music industry/government and tepid receptions from the broad base of fans. There has to be some lingering resentment.

In a field that is basically driven by any and all forms of prostitution, where people are willing to do and say whatever it takes to become rich and famous...Psy seems to fit right in.

95% of the people working in the world have to check their beliefs for what the company wants. Not really going to hold that against him.

Music was his major. It's not like he was spewed from a pop farm.

He could be an artists playing music from composers 200 years ago. Or in a band no one cares about in Korea. He made a choice. Seems like a reasonable one to me.

This point in particular makes what he does just that much....sadder.
With an education in the field...and that is what he can come up with?
What hope is there for the ones without the education?...lol

SR...I am not disagreeing with your points...in fact...I think we agree on this.
He is doing whatever it takes to be famous.
When in Rome....right?

As to regular people checking their beliefs...do you really think this is on the same level?
This example is pretty crude...but makes the point well enough.
Most people have to kiss ass to get/keep their job.
Most "entertainers" have to take it up the ass to get/keep theirs.
It's a dog eat dog industry...and those that don't want to get eaten bend over instead.

Other people seem to have lost all sense of perspective. Korea can do better

And does, but it's almost universally true that the best bands end up with more modest success. Korea is worse than the average country in this, and military service doesn't help things either. Luckily those bands also have a stronger and more long-term following.

Quote:

compromised derivative pop music extolling the virtues of a rich 'oppa'.

That's not what the song is about at all. The main character is a somewhat overweight guy who has deluded himself into being a rich Gangnam oppa and wants everybody else to believe it too. He spends his time at the playground, on a swan boat, on the bus with ajummas, on the toilet talking about how cool he is.

Quote:

"The YouTube video never targeted foreign countries. It was for local fans," Psy told Reuters on the sidelines of a concert at the weekend. "My goal in this music video was to look uncool until the end. I achieved it."

Like I was saying before, you gotta respect him for swimming against the current for years, writing and producing his own stuff and standing by it instead of pulling publicity stunts in order to create the impression he's a huge international star to make himself more appealing to the highly impressionable local youth who listen most to K-pop. Few K-pop artists would be able to claim the same.

Don't expect him to take the same road as the previous K-pop acts who've attempted to make it in the US (or so they claimed) by hiring such and such's producer or songwriter in order to create the impression that they are in the same league in the eyes of American music fans.

I'd be willing to bet he'll write and produce everything himself if he releases an album in the US, and that a considerable number of the songs will be in Korean.

Other people seem to have lost all sense of perspective. Korea can do better

And does, but it's almost universally true that the best bands end up with more modest success. Korea is worse than the average country in this, and military service doesn't help things either. Luckily those bands also have a stronger and more long-term following.

Quote:

compromised derivative pop music extolling the virtues of a rich 'oppa'.

That's not what the song is about at all. The main character is a somewhat overweight guy who has deluded himself into being a rich Gangnam oppa and wants everybody else to believe it too. He spends his time at the playground, on a swan boat, on the bus with ajummas, on the toilet talking about how cool he is.

Quote:

"The YouTube video never targeted foreign countries. It was for local fans," Psy told Reuters on the sidelines of a concert at the weekend. "My goal in this music video was to look uncool until the end. I achieved it."

Yeah that's from that write-up in The Atlantic (record companies and performers are very conscious of the press). Remember, Psy lived in the US and studied at Berklee School of Music, where there are courses on how to present yourself to the media.

None of that charade he put on for the article and Reuters and whoever has any of those subtle shades of subversive meanings for Koreans. It's just comedy and endearment for the fat rich oppa, who thereby keeps his place and the whole Confucian hierarchy intact.

I will acknowledge that he is clever in playing gullible westerners to a t...and at the end of the day it is all very average fare (yes better than your average K-pop, which isn't saying much) hyped up by a groomed and greased press.

If you think my use of the word torture was the same as some idiot whining that teaching in Korea is slavery then you are really not as intelligent as I thought you were.

Ok apologies for not being as intelligent as you thought I was but could you please explain to me, as a complete thickie, how it's ok to make a joke about the Wondergirls torturing people but not ok to make a joke about SLP enslaving their workers. (let's assume neither you or the posters talking about SLP were speaking literally) I'd really like to know.

It's not that deep of a satire though. Its humor is more along the lines of Lazy Sunday - a parody of a certain character that otherwise really likes to be taken seriously, but not a deep parody of society itself unless you stretch the truth a bit and really want to believe that that's what it is.